Shelf covers are in wide use as they provide a protective layer for shelves. Most commonly used are shelf covers with an adhesive backing. The adhesive backing is, however, often difficult to use because it is challenging to layer onto a surface without creating unwanted bumps or creases or by making it difficult to remove in the future without causing damage to the underlying surface.
Informal solutions such as cutting a rectangular shaped piece of cardboard to rest on top of the shelves are known in the prior art. However, this type of cover is prone to unwanted sliding, offers an aesthetically unattractive appearance, and is generally hard to clean.
A shelf covering is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,302 by Putnam. The '302 patent describes “a relatively thick shelf covering for use with wire-frame shelves. The material is sufficiently thick to prevent objects from falling through or tilting into the spaces between the gratings of a wire-frame shelf. The material is also flexible enough to be sold in rolls. The material is also impervious to water and most common household chemicals.”
This and other prior art shelf coverings solve some of the problems inherent in shelf coverings, but they introduce other complexities that reduce the re-usability of these covers and at the same time result in less than straightforward manufacturing. For example, the shelf covering of the '302 patent requires “a notch spanning the length of the covering that follows the frontal grating when in use.” Since the notch is present only towards one edge of the covering, the covering cannot be used in any other way but to have the notched edge of the covering facing outwardly from the shelves. Also, once the shelf covering has been bent downwards at the notch it cannot be brought back to its original planar form for deployment over shelves that may not have frontal gratings (that need covering).
Additionally, when compressible and flexible materials are used for the shelf coverings these materials tend to deform overtime under the weight of the items being placed upon them.
Accordingly a need exists for a shelf cover that does not have the limitations of the prior art, is sufficiently sturdy and incompressible, relatively straightforward to manufacture, use and is also cost effective. There is also a need in the prior art for shelf covers that possess characteristics such as soft ‘hand feel’ or ‘PHR’, aesthetic appearance and breathability.